Twice the size of the old galleries, the recently-opened 14,000sq.ft Dinosaur Hall displays specimens - including the world's only T. rex growth series of baby, juvenile and adult skeletons - mounted on platforms and preserved and articulated using modern methods. The skylit L-shaped Hall is flooded with natural light; a glass-sided mezzanine runs along the short side of the L where additional wall-mounted exhibits reveal more about the amazing creatures and show what it's like to find fossils in the field and study them in the lab. Electrosonic was responsible for the design, engineering, fabrication, installation and programming of the Hall's audio, video and interactive displays.
Electrosonic's Design Consulting team was approached by museum project manager Jennifer Morgan and asked to develop an AV system design that would subtly support the new interpretive material. "In the Hall, the dinosaurs are the stars. You don't want to compete with the T. rex - people are there to see the bones," says Electrosonic design consultant Steve Coe. "The museum was looking for small, high-quality systems, not over-the-top AV."
Electrosonic project manager Steve Calver explains that "each touchscreen panel in the hall is implemented in a slightly different way to support its exhibit. Some stand alone, some are built into the wall or embedded into the bases of the platforms. Each proved a challenge in terms of where to locate the equipment required for it."
"The AV interactives for the dinosaur specimens are integrated into the bases that support them," says Steve Coe. Electrosonic was charged with mounting rugged ELO touchscreens into the bases' access panels so visitors can review graphic panels and interactive videos created by Unified Field to learn more about the bones.
Electrosonic was also challenged to build the interactive computers into the bases, which minimized the use of extenders that would have been required if they were located in the third-floor equipment room. "It was more efficient and reliable to hide the content players in the exhibit than position them in a remote location," says Coe.
When visitors walk past the Triceratops and the 68ft Mamenchisaurus in the new hall, they encounter a 15ft wide front projection screen suspended about nine feet above the floor. Its looped 'Investigating Dinosaurs' video describes the hunt for the prehistoric creatures. Electrosonic chose a Christie HD10K-M series projector for the display with Medialon playback and fibre optic connections from the players to the projector. A pair of Renkus-Heinz speakers is located behind the screen.
(Jim Evans)
